Joel and Joanie Troester, June 13, 2012

Greetings from Sunny Maputo. Life is full of detours. They generally present themselves at the most inopportune times, take longer to maneuver than seems reasonable, and appear to be altogether pointless annoyances to the real progress of life and ministry. It would seem that “The important stuff has to wait”.

For us, recently, the detours (challenges) have resulted from a broken timing belt, a broken master cylinder, a glitch in the security system of our car that kept it from starting two Saturdays in a row, a car accident, and expired debit cards. The new cards should have been here by now.

Moment-by-moment, I’m challenged to filter my trials through God’s Word, where I find His purposes for difficulties. Jeremiah 17:5-9 reminds me that I am like a tree. God has placed the water of His Word within my reach but where I send my roots is my choice. If I work at sending my roots deep into my relationship with Him, the living water, I can have all that I need to sustain me in time of draught, or, in my case, a car accident, broken master cylinder… you get the idea. I am even commanded to bear fruit in the midst of it and am promised His sufficient grace.

Our Brazilian colleagues, Odenilson and Luiza, will be taking an unexpected furlough in July. They’ve asked us to take over their church (in Chamanculo – downtown Maputo) in their absence. Once again, we plan to move into their house when they leave. For now we are still living out of suitcases.

I taught evangelism training for a couple of weeks, in preparation for going out to blitz Odenilson’s church community with invitations and tracts last Saturday. Though we were stranded at home with a car that wouldn’t’ start, the teams had a great time. They went out fearful and came back eager to do it again!

Our Liberdade Bible study continues on Sunday nights and we’re excited that Pedro’s wife, Angélica, has begun to participate faithfully. Both Pedro and Angélica have expressed how important the studies have been for their personal lives.

Thanks for your partnership with us! May your roots go deep in God when your droughts come! Joel and Joanie Troester